How do plasma renin levels vary across different clinical conditions such as malignant hypertension, renal artery stenosis, and salt depletion?
The study demonstrates that plasma renin is elevated in conditions associated with increased aldosterone secretion and highlights a distinct renin secretion mechanism in malignant hypertension during salt depletion.
Estimation of plasma renin was made under the various clinical conditions. Plasma renin was increased in patients with malignant hypertension, unilateral renal artery stenosis, nephrotic syndrome and liver cirrhosis with ascites, and in subjects on salt depletion. This conditions are known to be associated with an increase of aldosterone secretion. Thus, present study supports the hypothesis that the renin-angiotensin system mediates aldosterone secretion. Plasma renin was also evaluated in toxemic pregnant women and found to be elevated. A constant increase of plasma renin in malignant hypertension indicates that the kidney plays an important role in the development and the maintenance of high blood pressure. In this disease, however, the basal secretion of renin was decreased on salt depletion, in contrast to normotension and benign hypertension. From this result, it may be assumed that some different mechanism of renin secretion would exist between malignant hypertension and other cases.
Masaru Maebashi (Wed,) studied this question.